On 22 January 1952, Winston Churchill appointed Templer British High Commissioner in Malaya to deal with the Malayan Emergency.[22] Working closely with Robert Thompson, the Permanent Secretary of Defence for Malaya, Templer's tactics against the communists were held up as a model for counter-insurgency.[23] In military terms Templer concentrated his efforts on intelligence.[24] Templer famously remarked that, "The answer [to the uprising] lies not in pouring more troops into the jungle, but in the hearts and minds of the people."[25] He demanded that newly built villages, where ethnic Chinese were resettled away from the jungles and beyond the reach (and influence) of the guerrillas, should be made to look more inviting. To further gain the "hearts and minds" of the non-Malays, who were the main source of communist support, Templer fought to grant Malayan citizenship to over 2.6 million Malayan residents, 1.1 million of whom were Chinese. Templer sought "political and social equality of all" Malayans.[26]

Templer awarding an MBE in Malaya

He instituted incentive schemes for rewarding surrendering rebels and those who encouraged them to surrender[27] and used strict curfews and tight control of food supplies to force compliance from rebellious areas to flush out guerillas. Crops grown by the communists in response to these measures were sprayed with herbicide and defoliants]. These restrictions were lifted on so-called White Areas which had been found to be free of communist incursion.[28]